None of the experts from ESPN, CBS, Yahoo! or Sports Illustrated predicted either the University of Kentucky or Connecticut to make the Final Four. Actually, none had the Wildcats or Huskies even making it to the Elite Eight.

Just three had Wisconsin advancing that far, though most did have overall No. 1 seed Florida in the national semifinals, with 19 projecting the Gators to make it to Dallas.

Nine of the 26 brackets scored more points than they would have had the experts simply picked the stronger-seeded team to advance.

With three games left in the tournament, Sports Illustrated stats guru Luke Winn leads the Pundit Tracker with 83 percent of correct selections. CBS’ Jon Rothstein has picked 79 percent of games but won’t earn many more points with a Louisville-Kansas title game. Pat Forde, formerly of The Courier-Journal and now with Yahoo!, is not far behind having made 75 percent of correct picks.

Despite U of L’s Vegas hype, just one other pundit, ESPN radio’s Colin Cowherd, selected the Cardinals as his national champion. Most went with Florida or Michigan State, which fell to UConn.

In the C-J

• The Courier-Journal crew at the Final Four got together for some video commentary based upon day one of the festivities, which on Thursday included joint press conferences for coaches John Calipari and Bo Ryan as well as another featuring players from all four teams. (http://cjky.it/1fFVTSv)

• Last night, U of L women’s player Shoni Schimmel lived up to her All-American status by winning the 3-point Championship in Dallas. Eastern Kentucky’s Marcus Lewis also won the dunk contest. (http://cjky.it/Prn3mj)

• UK football coach Mark Stoops stopped by The Courier-Journal office on Thursday to talk about his likeness on the Keeneland Maker’s Mark bottle and said that with recent improvements to the Wildcats’ facilities, he feels like he has a destination job. (http://cjky.it/1hINnTA)

Around the web

• Ahead of the Final Four, The New York Times featured Big Blue Nation and its dedication. It calls Oscar Combs, founder of Cats’ Pause, “the godfather of it all” for providing UK fans around the world an outlet to keep up with their team. (http://nyti.ms/1mIcne4)

• The NIT championship game Thursday night in Madison Square Garden was quite a scene for U of L fans. With son Richard Pitino coaching Minnesota to a victory, father Rick Pitino sat behind the bench, waving his hands like a coach in the final seconds as former Cardinals player Peyton Siva watching as well. (http://foxs.pt/1q5Otv8)

• Most mock drafts are giving Central Florida quarterback Blake Bortles the nod as the projected No. 1 pick to the Houston Texans. But Teddy Bridgewater will get another shot. He’s reportedly got another visit with the Texans scheduled along with Bortles, Johnny Manziel and Jadeveon Clowney. (http://usat.ly/1lFEbm4)